Here’s An Easy Way To Save Hundreds When Your Vehicle Breaks

Having your vehicle breakdown on you can be one of the most frustrating things you deal with in life. The reasons are usually because it’s almost always unexpected and it can become VERY expensive. It also always happens to occur when you’re already strapped financially.

I for one know what it feels like to be strapped for cash. It wasn’t too long ago that I was struggling financially for the majority of the years of my adult life. So before AdvoCare, I had to figure out every way I could to not just make money, but also to keep any amount of money I could from escaping my bank account. By performing the actions below, I have been able to save Mariah and myself and many friends thousands of dollars over the past few years.

If you don’t know exactly what’s going wrong with your vehicle and what, if any, parts you may need, then take your vehicle into your local maintenance shop. They should be able to diagnose the problem free of charge. To this date I have never been charged to have someone tell me what’s wrong with my vehicle (because at that point they haven’t fixed anything), but make sure you ask to be safe.

If a part has to be replaced, then that’s where the big savings comes into play! Ask them specifically what part is needed and how much they charge for it. Then ask how much labor to replace that part costs.

Here’s the dirty little secret that these maintenance shops don’t tell you: THEY MARK UP PARTS PRICES 40-100%!!! So how do you keep from getting overpaying for parts? Well, you go get them yourself from somewhere else.

This is what you do once you know the part that you need:

1. Ask your maintenance shop if they’d replace it for you if you brought the part to them and paid them for the labor. I’ve never had a place tell me “no” yet. They want your business, but just in the off chance they say “no” then tell them you are going to take it somewhere else.

2. After they tell you that they’ll replace it for you, call around to every auto parts store that is in the area and see if they have that part in stock. I highlight the word EVERY because you’d be surprised at the price differences between each of them sometimes. I’ve seen as much as a $40 price difference from the first to fifth place that I’ve called.

3. After you find out how much each of the places charge for that part, locate the one with the lowest price.

4. Once you’ve found the lowest price, call back and ask them to hold it for you.

5. Go pick the part up and while you’re there, ask the auto part store how much they’d charge to replace it for you. They may actually be cheaper on labor than your maintenance shop or may even tell you how to replace it yourself!

One last tip, just because one store is charging less than other stores on one particular part, don’t assume they’ll be the least expensive every time… they won’t. Always shop around.

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